Well, this was born thanks to twitter and a comment a cool girl made. There's mostly no action, and it has a lot of fluff.
-.-.-.-
Olivia wakes up in a cold bed, although it is still dark. She stretches and then it hits her: It is Etta's birthday and she knows exactly where Peter is. He had woken up earlier than their daughter (a feat) to surprise her with a ball pit, something that the now 3-year-old loved. She sneaks to take a picture of him. He is funnily organizing the ball pit, ball by ball to avoid waking up anyone in the house. The next time Olivia wakes up, it's because Etta is jumping on top of her. Olivia manages to use one of her arms to pull Etta close into a hug, "Happy Birthday Baby Girl." She kisses her cheek and sees Etta starting to jump again. "Is it your birthday?" Peter asks, as if surprised. "You knew daddy!" she says in a loud tone of voice. Peter laughs, "Of course I did. There's a gift waiting downstairs as well." Olivia sees Etta's eyes get brighter and follows them with the camera. Walter had purposely forgotten his camera one day and Olivia had started to use it a lot. Granted, there were never pics of Olivia, but plenty of Etta and some of Peter. And it was worth it because having a picture to always remember her daughter's smile was incredible.
"Mommy, come here," Etta says, almost demanding her to do it. Peter chuckles, he used to say she got that from Olivia. Olivia rolls her eyes at her husband, but gets inside the ball pit anyway. Etta is already explaining a game to her parents. The imagination of that girl! She had always been sharp. Olivia had been scared the cortexiphan had something to do with it, but Peter had assured her it were the Bishop genes. Olivia loves her too much, she is smart, beautiful and loving. It is way more than Olivia had expected from life. And the world hadn't ended…yet. She was always scared something would take this happiness from her. But on this day she lets her fears go, as Peter is making whale-shaped-chocolate-chip pancakes, Etta's favorite.
Peter gives her a kiss on her forehead while delivering her coffee, "You've been quite today." She shakes her head, "Just thinking, she's growing too fast." Peter seems to wince at the idea and Olivia smiles, "Oh, don't worry. She'll always be your princess." Peter smirks, "Maybe it's time to make another princess." Olivia chokes on her coffee and glares at him. Luckily, Etta makes noise from the ball pit, to which she had ran after devouring her breakfast. Olivia takes that as a cue to stand up, "That is not a conversation for today." She is all serious when she says it and Peter loves her all the more for it. Olivia has in fact been thinking about it, but she's reached to the conclusion that probably when Etta is three it may be better to go for it. Of course, she doesn't want to tell Peter because she wants Etta's birthday to be all about her.
Walter, Astrid and Nina will come later and that is the only reason why Etta won't ask for her other presents. She knows she'll get plenty and the most amazing from Walter and Nina. But until then it's a lazy day, the house is clean and Etta wants to be the center of attention, so they go with it. Her father would go to the end of Earth barefoot for her, and her mother wants to give her the best birthdays because she never got that for herself. Even Peter knows better now than to try to surprise her with something on that day.
Finally, everyone arrives and Walter has his video camera turned on since before he gets into the house. Etta screams "grandpa!" so loudly, some neighbors stare back, and Walter seems to get all teary-eyed. Then a "grandma!" comes for Nina and Walter is clearly proud his scream was way stronger. Nina hugs the girl nevertheless and sports an incredible smile when she separates. Then, Etta goes to Astrid and hugs her too with all her might. Olivia feels warm at the thought of so many people truly loving her daughter. They have to take two trips for the presents and Olivia thinks of how she'll restrict the time with the presents, she'll have to convince Peter to help her. They open the presents and Etta decides she loves the most a puzzle that Nina has brought from some educational, especial shop in Europe, but then she's hugging a plush cow Astrid got her and then she just goes through presents like any toddler would. Walter tries to make her interested in a dinosaur book, but he doesn't have her attention for long, "She's more like you than you think, Peter. You were always running away from knowledge." Olivia stifles a laugh, but Peter is already rolling his eyes and going to the kitchen, where he returns from with a Lion King cake. Lion King is the latest movie with which Etta's been obsessed. She's made her father watch it with her every day for the past month. Olivia joins twice per week, but most other days she's working.
They light the candles and Walter settles the camera in front of the cake and Etta. Etta is eager to blow the candles, but she has to be patient and wait for the song to finish. She asks for a wish, and then everybody has cake, and she has an idea: "Kiss Mommy." Peter and Olivia, each at one of their daughter's side, look a little blushed, still not privy to the idea of showing affection in public, but they do it for her. Olivia doesn't realize she's closed her eyes until the kiss is over and she's a little taken aback by her feelings, still strong, after these years, for her husband. Peter is smiling at her, as if he knew what she is thinking, and then they all continue to eat and drink sodas and water. It's late and Etta's asleep when everybody leaves. Olivia wants to tuck her in and she carries her up to her room.
Afterwards, in bed, Olivia tells Peter she's ready for the next kid and he says back "next kid?" to which she says "next kid" with a nod and then they kiss with all their might.